[DwightShrute]

someone pls tell me why hockey cannot make it in the U.S..

who cares. Their loss

go Canucks go

[face]

that guy doc emmerit is a great announcer, the other ones sound biased and boring, but doc is exciting and very fair.

[MendozaLine]

Other than Trevor Gillies, whom I have met a few times through a friend, there isn't another player in the NHL that I would recognize if they walked by me

i have news for you, it would not have made a difference. if crosby walked on any busy street in USA, aside from pittsburgh, not one person would recognize him, and this is not just any player, it's the star of the league. it's the lebron james of hockey. no one cares in america about hockey. just over 2 million watched game 7, and this is including both boston and tampa fans.. and this includes every sports gambler in america who watched it cause they had action on it. if you take out boston and tampa fans out and take out every gambler that watched ONLY because he had action on it.. a total of 23 people in all of america watched this game.

[I/O]

The NBA sucks.

If I want ego's and premadonna's, I'll watch daytime soaps.

What a shit league.

[mcaulay777]

One it is not a TV sport like football.Two you cant set up office pools or Fantasy Leagues like football and basketball.Most Americans have not grown up with it.Plus you really have to be a HARD CORE Hockey fan to follow a sport for this long the season started in October and it Is now June 1 and they are only 1 game into the finals.The playoffs are just as long as the regular season.It is hard to like a winter sport that is bieng played in June especially whe it was 95 degrees where i am today.

[isles71]

NHL appeal is limited in southern cities. Look at the Thrashers. Football is national, everyone everywhere loves football mostly.

[turfnsport]

Nothing better than playoff hockey...nothing!

[dherd]

you cant see the puck on tv .

[I/O]

you cant see the puck on tv .

in all sports

you need to watch beyond the puck or the ball

the rest is easy

[illmatick]

sports been good to me all year.

[dazed99]

I think it's one of the harder games to follow for a casual fan. Hard to see what happened on play until the replay sometimes because it's so fast and the puck gets lost sometimes

[FindTheLock]

the main reason I believe is the channel that carries it. Versus??? That's a lame channel and its a cable only channel. If they carried it on a bunny ear friendly channel then more people would watch it. I barely ever turn it on versus unless I am trying to catch a lightning game. They have fricken rodeos and other stupid shit on that channel most of the time. Some people probably tried to find the game, but couldn't because they passed by versus without a second thought. I know that's what I usually do to that channel whenever the lightning aren't in the playoffs. Hockey needs to be on ESPN or one of the National networks, not the low budget versus channel. Put it on a major network and then compare viewer ratings. I think it would help, but it would still fall short of the major US sports such as the NBA. Hockey is competing with the NBA a lot of times. I personally watch both, but I am also an american who enjoys soccer. I will pretty much watch any sport as long as there are no women playing. Women's sports should be discontinued, unless they are getting naked or are playing in their underwear.


edit... I realize that game 7 was on national TV, but the majority of the playoffs weren't. It's kind of hard for a casual fan to get interested when they weren't exposed to the earlier rounds. Some of those earlier round series were excellent and really set the pace for fans of hockey.

[mike1234]

Americans don't like hockey because Gary Bettman is an idiot who doesn't have the slightest clue how to market the sport or the star players. If Bettman was half as shrewd as David Stern or the NFL management a lot more Americans would watch hockey.

It didn't help that Tampa is still seen as an expansion team and Boston's play is often boring to watch. If Crosby/the Pens were playing the Caps in the Eastern Finals I bet the ratings would have been much higher. The ratings for the Western Conference Finals in the NBA would have been just as weak as for Boston-Tampa if it had been San Antonio and Memphis instead of Dallas and OKC. The Spurs are plodding and boring (like the Bruins) and Grizzlies have the same lack of respect and recognition as the Lightning, despite Tampa's Stanley Cup win a few years ago.

Yes - wasn't the NHL popular in the states in the 70's and 80's?

[mike1234]

Also ... Americans don't appreciate the toughness and skill of hockey. They're more interested in the "i'm from the slum", "my daddy left me", "watch me at the strip club" stories rather than follow a tough and emotional sport.

... and I'm an American that loves hockey.

[twelvejewelz]

Im a white american 30 years old from NY and love hockey. I cant speak for anyone else but its great. I dont know how people say they cant see the puck that makes no fcukin sense to me?? I love the hits the fighting thats the best part, But i do like the game that are high scoring and i do not like the defensive games as much but i can understand why some people do like that part of it. I think if they upped the fights and upped the goals and put all of the games on a good Channel thats the key, the NBA is becoming a soap opera and i think this is my last year even watching that bs. NFL is amazing along with hockey and im even starting to like soccer since i really started gambling. NBA is filled with a bunch of pu$$ies and its the next WWE , NHL is raw and i love the action.

[teaserpleaser]

what is hockey?

[Dr.Gonzo]

America hates white people.

[pinchylarue]

because they are stupid and follow gay sports like baseball and basketball

[darren125]

I think it's tough if a sport was never offered in school so you never played and therefore never started following. I think that's why in the southern cities and out west in California people don't follow it.

[stogies]

americans dont hate hockey as much as they hate froggy canucks who think they know what americans love and hate.

[CashMoney]

Things that are better than hockey in no particular order;

1. Football
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. Talking to your wife/girlfriend/other
5. Having your wisdom tooth removed.
6. Getting hit in the nuts with a sledge hammer.
7. Getting hit by a truck and spending a year in ICU.
8. WWE
9. Slam ball
10. Tennis

[jjgold]

Hockey will never be accepted here
Most people where I am from could not name 2 nhl players
It just seems like a cold weather sport

[Tk Fo Sho]

Playoff Hockey is the best IMO....

[Wiggums5]

I don't know why some hate it...how some people watch the boring NBA is beyond me.

[Mr. Jones]

I grew up playing primarily baseball and hockey. Therefore I love both games. Did not hurt that it was 25 minutes for me to see the Hull-Mikita Blackhawks at the old Chicago Stadium. Don't know how I'd feel obout the game if I had grown up in another part of the USA.

Oh and yes, I watched every friggin minute of that game 7.

[William Walters]

Because we don't get off on watching a wimpy French Canadian biting another wimpy French Canadians fingertip.

[darrell74]

Things that are better than hockey in no particular order;

1. Football
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. Talking to your wife/girlfriend/other
5. Having your wisdom tooth removed.
6. Getting hit in the nuts with a sledge hammer.
7. Getting hit by a truck and spending a year in ICU.
8. WWE
9. Slam ball
10. Tennis

[chilidog]

The majority of my friends down here are Canadian, so I have grown to love hockey. Last night's game was awesome - I bet Vancouver went CRAZY after that goal.

[William Walters]

[Hall2Collie]

I think the biggest reason is the lack of a top american star with some charisma

There is no real american for them to rally around and support (like Tiger in golf for example). It's the reason why the NBA viewing figures went through the roof this season

The Miami Heat big 3 gave everybody a team to love or hate. Every single game they played felt interesting.

Also Versus is truly awful which also hurts

[soxwin]

The basic opinion of hockey is that is is soccer on skates and soccer isn't ever going to catch on here either.

Who wants to watch a sport where 80 percent of the action is played near midfield(blue line to blue line) and the final score ends up 1-0? It is a turnover fest and all of the action is improv.

Can't say I have watched one second of hockey this year and don't feel like I missed anything. I am from Mass & my hometown team is in the finals too. absolutely couldn't care less.

[thetrinity]

i have some proof for santoros point.

we had a poker game on saturday night a few years back. a bunch of the regulars wanted to cancel the game because they wanted to watch the lightning play i think calgary? in the stanley cup instead.

a bunch of us laughed and one guy said "5 people in america are watching that game and they are all in (his) living room." he was probably right i hadnt really even realized the cup was still going on.

the penguins got good again and it seemed to ignite a bandwagon effect.

honestly, i dont think i watched one second of any game til this season, and wouldnt even dream of betting on it. this playoffs turned me around a bit. i dont think ill ever love the game but i do deem it watchable, especially with a bet on it. i watched a good deal of the game last night even though i didnt bet it.

nicky, i have a serious question though.

WHY do you care if america likes this or not? this is the same country that you cant play poker online in and hates by far the worlds most popular sport with a passion. why should it even matter if they like it?

[Rod1010]

Usa has to beat canada in the olympics... Dont think it will ever happen. They do have good players tho.

[Deuce]

Two of the best defensemen to ever play the game skimming the Detroit River with Kid Rock.

[philswin]

It is popular in the Northeast and Northern parts of the country. In the warmer regions it is not popular because kids never played. When the big teams get eliminated Red Wings, Flyers, Pens, NY teams, etc those fans tend not to watch anymore. The game is not marketed very well, the star players are only on the ice 20 - 30 minutes, and its a harder game to follow for the casual fan, does not really have the story lines of the NBA and it is also not bet on as much..